Tanaka vs Tuolehazi

Who won Tanaka vs Tuolehazi?

Kosei Tanaka beat Wulan Tuolehazi by knockout in the 3rd round on Tuesday, December 31st, 2019, at Ota-City General Gymnasium, Tokyo.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 12 rounds in the Flyweight division, which meant the weight limit was 112 pounds (8 stone or 50.8 kg).

This contest was for the WBO flyweight championship of the world.

This fight appeared on the undercard of Kazuto Ioka's and Jeyvier Cintron's clash for the WBO World Junior Lightweight championship.

Tanaka vs Tuolehazi stats

Back in December 2019, Kosei Tanaka stepped into the ring with an undefeated record of 14 wins, zero losses, and 0 draws, 8 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Wulan Tuolehazi made his way to the ring with a record of 13 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw, with 6 of those wins by knockout.

The stats suggested Tanaka had an advantage in power over Tuolehazi, with a 57% knockout percentage compared to Tuolehazi's 46%.

Kosei Tanaka was the younger man by 2 years, at 25 years old.

Tuolehazi had a 3-inch reach advantage.

Both Kosei Tanaka and Wulan Tuolehazi fought out of an orthodox stance.

Tanaka was arguably the more experienced fighter, having had 3 fewer fights, and made his debut in 2013, 2 years earlier than Tuolehazi, whose first professional fight was in 2015. He had fought 15 more professional rounds, totaling 185 compared to Tuolehazi's 170.

Wulan Tuolehazi was ranked number 3 by the WBA, and 10 by the WBO in the 112lb division.

Tanaka vs Tuolehazi form

Tanaka had won 5 of his most recent fights, stopping 2 of them, going the distance 3 times.

In his last fight before this contest, he had defeated Jonathan Gonzalez on August 24, 2019, by technical knockout in the 7th round in their WBO World Flyweight championship fight at Takeda Teva Ocean Arena, Aichi, Japan.

Prior to that, he had defeated Ryoichi Taguchi on March 16, 2019, by unanimous decision in their WBO World Flyweight championship fight at Memorial Center, Gifu.

Going into that contest, he had beaten Sho Kimura on September 24, 2018, by majority decision in their WBO World Flyweight championship fight at Takeda Teva Ocean Arena, Aichi.

Before that, he had won against Ronnie Baldonado on March 31, 2018, by technical knockout in the 9th round at Nagoya, Aichi.

He had beaten Angel Acosta on May 20, 2017, by unanimous decision in their WBO World Junior Flyweight championship fight at Takeda Teva Ocean Arena, Aichi.

Activity check

Tanaka's last 5 fights had come over a period of 2 years, 7 months and 11 days, which means he had been fighting approximately every 6 months and 10 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 52 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 10.4 rounds on average.

What time did Tanaka vs Tuolehazi start?

The fighters were expected to ringwalk at around 9:00 AM UTC at Ota-City General Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan, which was 4:00 AM EST or 1:00 AM PST on the West Coast of America, or 9:00 AM GMT in the UK.

What were the odds on Tanaka vs Tuolehazi?

Kosei Tanaka was a 3/100 (-3300) favorite going into the contest, while Wulan Tuolehazi made his way into the ring at 9/1 (+900) with oddsmakers.